Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Two summers ago we debuted Bartosz Kruczynski a.k.a. The Phantom‘s swirling, xylophone-tinged “Cambodia,” a track that eventually saw release on a Top Billin’ compilation of UK Funky that attempted to capitalize on the nascent genre. The compilation was OK, but Kruczynski’s participation was the highlight, and now after over a year of negotiating a proper debut EP, Senseless Records will finally do his music justice.

My favorite aspect to The Phantom’s productions is that he gives melody the utmost of attention. From “Cambodia” to his EP’s two tracks “Girl” and “Night Game,” whooshing piano and synth melodies carry his tracks into the heat of the night while he lets his percussion remain fresh but understated.

Titled simply, The Phantom EP, the record is out December 6 and features remixes from Trash-favorite and U.S. bass hopeful Brenmar, U.K. producer Hackman, and fellow Pole Zeppy Zep. Zep’s bombastic, epicly layered remix of “Night Game” is available for download below!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Visitor caused a great stir almost a year ago when their song “Los Feeling” was unleashed in the blogosphere and remixed by a couple of great musicians like TM favs Fear Of Tigers, Bit Funk, Freak You!, Flashmen, etc.

The official single is now released on Vulture with “Love” as a b-side. Here’s the club edit of this awesome tune:

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Hello TM readers. Pardon my train of thought but I thought I’d post a tune that is the EXACT reflection of my state of mind right now. Imagine working countless hours on something that involves executing a surrealist creative direction (sorry can’t go into detail since I signed a NDA), daydreaming about taking a holiday around the world and then allowing your delirium to twist the two into a hypnotic whirlwind of sound, harmony and rhythm. That is basically what happened as I gave El Remolon remix of Tremor‘s Viajante a listen.

It started with a South American feel, using “SAYA”, a rhythm from the high mountains of the Andes as the backbone of the song. Then Balkan, South American and pan-European instrumentals laid their way in. My personal favorite happened 2/3 of the way through when I began to hear tango accordion in combination with some Ray Parker Jr. style Ghostbustin keyboard synths!

Monday, April 12, 2010

So our man Dev79, number-one purveyor of that bizarre, freak-deaky street bass sound and one of the bright minds behind the consistently innovative Seclusiasis record label, came through this weekend with some bass-mutation badness in our inbox and we simply can’t resist the opportunity to show these dudes some love on the blogosphere.

Seclusiasis’ releases consistently fall on the far-out end of the scale, with doped-out w*nky pop slime from Kotchy, MDMA overdose anthems from Raffertie, and of course, the slow-and-low from Starkey and Dev79 himself, among others.

This week, our friends in Philly will be officially releasing a new four-track remix EP built around a glitchy, aggro KABLOW-step single from 18 year year-old UK producer Numan, aptly titled Skull Chrusher. Alongside the EP, they’re giving out a promo version of Bombaman’s remix (available to a carefully-selected handful of DJs and motherbloggers), except this one has Nelly Furtado vocals blended into it and is set to become a landmark in the trajectory of 2010 future rave music. The EP has remixes from CapricornOne and M80 Dubstation as well, and was released as a Juno Downloads exclusive on Seclusiasis’ sister-label, Slit Jockey, before being made fully available to the world TODAY.

Buy the EP here on Juno, and check out Bombaman’s epic bootleg remix with streaming and direct download, as well as some low-fi streams of the remix EP to give you a taste of what’s in store:

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hello new friends, Max Pearl (aka, DJ Kat Fyte) here checking in as the newest contributor to Trash Menagerie. For my first post, I’d like to take all of my new readers on a guided journey of those winding corridors and dark hiding-places that I like to troll as I make my way through the blogosphere. That means recommendations, people!

I’d like to keep it multi-media, as much as possible, so here are a few treasures that deserve some exposure, from audio-visual art music to critical commentary on the state of the contemporary moment.

First up, here’s an astoundingly well-edited promo video for the current reigning champion of the drum machine, AraabMUZIK. I’m pretty sure that everything you’re hearing in this masterpiece is generated by this dude triggering samples off of the MPC console he’s working with, even the gnarly chug-a-chugs!

In this day and age where DJs are exchanging their turntables for laptops and MIDI controllers, yet trying to find ways to keep digital DJing as impressive for the eyes as it is for the ears, an MPC prodigy is pretty much exactly what we’ve been looking for to satiate our tiny attention spans. SOMEBODY BOOK THIS DUDE AND I WILL GLADLY ATTEND YOUR PARTY AND BUY EVERYONE BEER. By the way, ‘dude does much of the production for the one-and-only Cam’ron and the Dipset crew. Makes sense.

In the simplest terms, he addresses the use of sound as a structuring technology- a sonic architecture, if you will- from night-time sound bombs used to create an environment of paranoia and fear among the colonized, to high-pitched frequencies used in malls to prevent teens from gathering, all the way through to the careful crafting of good or bad vibes by soundsystems operators in the context of the global dancehall session. Kode9, by the way, is the curator behind the virtually infallible Hyperdub record label, a leftfield electronica institution that’s centered around wonky hip-hop and dubstep, with releases from acts like Ikonika, Burial, Zomby, and Joker. Act like you know.

Lastly, let me round out yet one more border to which my artistic and cultural interests extend, and make the jump from super METAL gangster beats and Sonic Warfare over to the contemporary state of Latin American and Caribbean party music! I don’t mean to blow up anybody’s spot if you’ve been hoarding music from this bizarre little outlet in the global digital, but these guys deserve some props! Check out the wonderful, regularly-updated music blog, Flow Cartagena, “EL BLOG OFICIAL DEL DANCEHALL Y REGGAETON,” for seriously cutting edge reggae/hip-hop everything. Much of the music available at this site is from amateur producers and remixers, and a lot of it is unreleased, bootlegged, or really poorly mixed and mastered. Still, you can find some gems if you’re willing to hit up google translator and spend an hour navigating the sketchy mess that is this website’s interface.

One of my favorites is this track here, an upbeat, layed-back hip-hop joint from Jiggy D and Mosta Man. Just so you trust me that this site is in fact quite bangin’.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Here’s a release that I’ve been waiting for (or rather: longing for) for quite some time: Lisbon-based collective and label Discotexas are releasing their “Forbidden Cuts” today. The EP features three tracks by Moullinex, Xinobi and Rockets. You should recall the latter from a post on these pages.

I can only speculate about the origins of the title but this is dangerously addictive stuff from a wonderful crew that is now making their way from the blogs to some of the coolest labels in dance music: While Moullinex is getting his full-length ready for Gomma, Xinobi’s “Day Off” is finally seeing a proper release on Work It Baby soon and Rockets debut 12″ is going to be released by Alavi’s RoXour!

It’s their love for details, the warmth in their tracks, awesome production, and – of course – their ability to make people dance that makes me want to proclaim a new genre right now. No more French touch, this is Portuguese house!